A tale of two cities - Bombay and Bangkok

I was struck by the happenings in two cities of Asia and how different they the appear. The first was the taking of the airport in Bangkok by demonstrators fed up with the shenanigans of the Thai government. These people wore yellow headbands and clothing to show that they were peaceful people. They were just stating that they wanted real democracy in their country. Apparently all flight passengers were treated well and got on with their "captors" who gave them food and sustinence. As one Brit said "It's the airlines who are telling us nothing!".

Contrast this with Bombay, now renamed Mumbai and described by the BBC as "The Indian city of Mumbai" as if we don't know where it is! "Mumbai? It's Bombay, mate! Ah!" is a typical snippet of conversation you might hear down the pub. I'm still waiting for the BBC to speak of The Italian city of Firenze, but I'm not hopeful. Anyway back to Bombay. Here we have automoton terrorists trying to destabilise a democracy by attempting to round up American and British citizens whilst scaring the living daylights out the city as a whole.

Democracy is worth fighting for. Not with weapons or warfare but with words and wisdom. The Bangkok demonstrators have left their mark by being firm but fair with their cause. Al Queda is neither firm or fair. They have a self-righteous narrow view of life based on hatred and the desire to hurt in order to control. In this they should be resisted absolutely.

The Indian government is handling the situation well it seems. However the US and British governments should not be tempted to intervene. The Indian authorities are quite capable of flushing out these terrorists and bringing matters to a satisfactory conclusion.


PS. This film is nicely titled - Bombay to Bangkok! One up to the Bollywood producers.

Have the police gone mad?

I'm beginning to wonder if the chief constables of this country want to get along with us or whether they think they are there to change our minds. It appears they have become very political and rather prone to doing what they think is right and proper.

So it is that if you come across two gay men having a sexual encounter on a footpath you are advised to take an alternative path! The ludicrous deputy chief constable of Lancashire, Mike Cunningham, has called for police to turn a blind eye to outdoor sexual activity. So to hell with the fact that it breaks the law. He is judge and jury now. He knows his mind and his mind will be our mind. I wonder if George Orwell is getting this beamed up to him?

It is outrageous! Under the Sexual Offences Act anyone who takes part in 'dogging', where couples meet for sex in car parks, and cottaging, where men meet for sex in public lavatories, face arrest for outraging public decency, voyeurism and exposure. But Mr. Cunningham isn't outraged. So why should we be? The Daily Mail has a full report, as they say.

However, when the police get uppity about other peoples' political activity they pounce. As I mentioned before, they seem to think that causing the BNP grief by spending thousands of pounds chasing them round the streets, knocking them up at 6 am and generally letting them know that they are "after them" is what they are expected to do. Actually, it does the political system no favours. Mike Hume in The Times has a good article on this. "Free speech means freedom for fools, too".

He writes that, in reference to the Liverpool arrests, "It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to see a connection between the appearance of a Merseyside officer on the leaked list of BNP members, and Saturday's arrests. Being able to claim that its members are victims of political persecution is the best publicity for a small outfit that gains support from disaffection with the political class. The best weapons against the BNP are democratic debate and free speech, not censorship and blacklists."

When will these chief constables learn?

Bailing out the British way of life?

It seems Alistair Darling is keen to bail out bankers and corporate failures at the expense of hard working business people and the struggling entrepreneur. Even today he blinks like an owl at the thought he was in any way part of the sleazy money washing culture.

So whilst the banks get to board the gravy train leaving Number 11 Downing Street (or should that be the gravy bus?), others can go hang. These include sub-postmasters/mistresses (not PC I know!), village pubs, village schools, rural bus services....the list goes on.

In twenty years time our villages will just be commuting communes with no sense of neighbourhood. The BBC has a depressing report on the dwindling number of village pubs. Soon England will be a place where nobody talks to anybody other than to get something out of them. Paul Shenton, who used to run the Lord Nelson in Holton, Suffolk, puts it down to a cultural and economic shift. He says that villagers are now happy to stay at home watching DVDs and enjoying cheap drink from the supermarket. How sad!

Lord Nelson would have been proud to see so many pubs named after him. But did he fight the Battle of Trafalgar so that we could become a nation of grasping bonus chasers and cheap booze lounge lizards?

Surely not?

Sorry Bishop, no actresses!

Yes, it seems official. There are no more actresses. At least, that's what BBC News would have us believe. Every thespian is now an "ACTOR" regardless of "gender". Of course, it is this political correctness thing. An actress is probably deemed to imply an airhead. Can't allow that.

It is all getting horribly muddled. Everyone is having to appear on a scale of sexuality from the campest of the camp to the tightest-lipped straight guy. We all have a sexuality from the Twilight Zone as far as the authorities are concerned.

So, with certain elements of the Church of England clamouring for female prelates, the old joke about the actress and the bishop is moribund. It will in future entail sexually dubious bishops with sexually dubious thespians.

Of course it is all nonsense. As Lord Hailsham famously remarked, when telling Norman Fowler about grammar (re AIDS leaflets), "You can't "have sex" - sex is what you are, either male or female". In today's world, there are plenty who wish to deny this fact. For their own reasons everyone has to have an occupation of sexless recognition and we are actually supposed to have no definable sex. Male and female is too easy. Gender (a word hijacked from the grammatical sense) is now supposes to give the impression that there are several genders available.

Whilst there may be quite a few lifestyles practised, only male and female humans exist. Anything else is a figment of the imaginations of those that peddle these ideas.

Police versus BNP

It seems there is now a concerted attack on BNP activists by certain police forces. If there is illegal activity it should be stamped on and dealt with accordingly. I just think that the police are being used to make the BNP go away. If this is so, they are extremely mistaken. All it does is embolden them and make it all the more likely that additional BNP councillors and possibly MEPs wiull be elected.

If police chiefs think dawn raids on political activists is what their job is all about, then we live in sorry times. This sort of activity could end up with them answering to elected police authorities consisting largely of BNP members. A nightmare too far for them?

BNP unmasked?

In all this hullabaloo about the BNP membership list, I see that there are ironies all round. First is that the BNP are going after the Human Rights Act to safeguard privacy. Then there are the democrats behaving undemocratically. And we have people talking about the BNP as if the oxygen was running out of their lungs but they say that others should desist because it "gives them the oxygen of publicity".

The truth is both sides seem to need each other. If the moronic tendency in New Labour stopped its prissy approach to the BNP, by debating with them rather than resorting to backroom arm-twisting blackmail, we might not see so much of this.

Alan Duncan, the Tory frontbencher, is right. He'd debate with Griffin, and win hands down. If you can't win with words, then it's a poor sort of politics we have.

I saw on the BNP website that Nick Griffin has a stop press letter. Nothing unusual in that. But the advert that clicked up underneath read - "Expose Liars and Cheats - Expose your ex, your boss, a celeb or even a politician". Griffin needs to be more careful!

Strictly Andy Mandy

Peter Mandelson has let it be known that he is slightly envious of John Sargent's dancing technique. He's also got an eye on the ratings. So Peter wants to be considered as a Strictly Come Dancing competitor. I think this is an excellent idea. Whilst I deplore his political habits, I must confess that there is a bit to be admired about Mandelson. Now I'm not going overboard, just recognising that he does have an element of star quality about him.

Peter is no shrinking violet. More a rose with thorns in the wrong places. However, I strongly suggest that the BBC gives serious thought to this. Mandelson on the floor will be a ratings success for the BBC. Detractors and fans will watch in equal measure. Can you imagine the brilliance of it all?

Bruce: "Craig, your comments, please."
Craig: "Well, you do surprise me! Not exactly a star performance, but you managed to come back from your early mistake. I'd say you've gone from Prince of Darkness to Queen of the Dancefloor!"
Bruce: "Nicely put, Craig, I'm sure. Bruno?"
Bruno: "He took the words out of my mouth! What more can I say? A tour de force, darling!"

It will be fantastic. If the BBC is worried about political balance, then Vince Cable is desperate for a go too. That leaves the matter of who the Tory Twinkletoes will be.

Any suggestions?